2025 Joyce Smith Memorial Scholarship Recipients

The committee which oversees and administers the Joyce Smith Memorial Scholarship sponsored by the Club De L’Epagneul Breton of the United States has selected five recipients who are entering college this fall whom applied for the scholarship offered to qualified 2025 college freshmen.  This year’s recipients are all young women and are:

• Grace Crowe of Christianburg, VA

• Ella Hidinger-Wood of Midlothian, VA

• Keidra Kuenstler of Noble IL

• Annabelle LaFary of Delvan, IL

• Gwen Miller of Elburn, IL

You may read more about the individual recipients by visiting the Scholarship Awards Page of the Scholarship Section on the foundation website located at www.epagneulbretonfoundation.org as soon as the information for this year’s scholarships is added.

The Joyce Smith Memorial Scholarship Fund is offered to qualified entering college freshmen who are pursuing a degree at a college or university and who have been involved with the Epagneul Breton during their youth. The applicant or their family must have been a member of CEB-US, and the applicant must have been personally involved with the Epagneul Breton and participated in activities sponsored by the Epagneul Breton breeds UKC designated parent club known as CEB-US along with activities associated by various regionally affiliated clubs. Credit and due consideration is also given to applicants who promote and showcase the breed in other community forums such as 4-H, FFA, school activities and other dog related venues where they participate with their Epagneul Bretons. Each applicant submits an essay as an integral part of their application for the Scholarship Committee’s consideration. The required essay articulates the impact which owning and participating with the Epagneul has had on the applicant’s life. The Scholarship Committee indicates that the essays submitted are usually insightful and often inspiring.

The concept of the Scholarship and its growth and development has an interesting history. The late Joyce Smith was an early supporter, organizer and promoter of the Epagneul Breton during the breed’s infancy as it re-emerged in the United States in the 1990’s.  She and her husband, Ed Smith (who is a founding and charter member of the parent breed club now commonly referenced and known as “CEB-US”) got involved early on, and worked tirelessly in support of the Epagneul Breton breed. After Joyce’s death in 2011 after a bout with cancer, her surviving husband, Ed Smith conceived of the idea of a scholarship in Joyce’s honor and memory. He made a generous initial donation for the purpose of memorializing his late wife’s legacy and to establish a fund for the scholarship proceeds so that the annual scholarship could be awarded through CEB-US. When establishment of the Scholarship Fund was announced, other persons soon made additional donations in honor of Joyce and her legacy to the club. The idea of the scholarship caught on over time with the club constituency, with a number of voluntary annual donations being made to the scholarship fund the first few years. As donations to the scholarship fund grew, a separate charitable foundation was established in 2015 to educate the public about the Epagneul Breton. The Epagneul Breton Foundation, inc. acquired status as a charitable entity and acquired IRS designation as a 501(C)(3) charitable entity set up to support and promote the breed and to periodically support activities of the parent breed club which are philanthropic, charitable and educational in nature.  The transfer of the scholarship funds for management by the Epagneul Breton Foundation perfectly fit the legal and philosophical objectives of the non- profit foundation and aids the foundation in continuing to qualify for status as a 501(c)(3) charitable entity. In, 2017 the Epagneu Breton Foundation, Inc. received the corpus of the scholarship fund for the purpose of managing the accounting and supervising the investment of the scholarship fund proceeds and receiving donations to the scholarship fund such that these gifts qualify as charitable tax-deductible donations. The Foundation Board of Trustees prudently manages the corpus and accumulated annual earnings in diversified mutual funds, with the assistance of Merrill Lynch as a professional investment manager. A few years ago, the scholarship fund received an additional boost when a dedicated CEB-US member, Karin Lee Fournier conceived the idea of producing an annual EB Calendar for sale, and donating all profits from the project to the Joyce Smith Memorial Scholarship Fund. That annual EB Calendar project has been a key source of revenue for continuing to grow the scholarship, according for Foundation Officers.  As an outgrowth of Karin Fournier’s dedication and support through production of the Annual EB Calendar, many EB owners and lovers around the country have tangibly contributed to the scholarship fund via purchasing the annual EB Calendars, which depict Epagneul Bretons in various settings at work and play. The EB Calendar Project maintains a current Facebook Page at “Epagneul Breton Calendar 2026” where persons may submit photos to the calendar project. Aside from annual sales of the EB Calendar, CEB-US members and friends continue to make periodic charitable donations to the scholarship fund as memorial gifts, or in the form of voluntary individual charitable donations.  

In addition to each scholarship recipient receiving a commemorative plaque from CEB-US to signify their selection as a recipient of the Joyce Smith Memorial Scholarship, these beginning college freshmen receive a one-thousand-dollar ($1,000.00) scholarship stipend to be applied towards the cost of tuition, books and expenses associated with attending a college or university of their choice.  Additionally, their basic academic and information about their involvement with the Epagneul Breton is listed on the Scholarship Awards page of the Foundation Website, which permanently lists all recipients.  In addition to being a memorial to its namesake honoree the late Joyce Smith, the Joyce Smith Memorial Scholarship Fund was conceived at its inception as a means of encouraging young people to become involved with the Epagneul Breton and for CEB-US youth members who are breed enthusiasts to showcase the breed in appropriate forums.  Some of the designated Scholarship recipients are requested to serve on the Board of Trustees of the Epagneul Breton Foundation, Inc. as a means of educating them as to how a non-profit board works, and as a further means of keeping them actively involved in associated Epagneul Breton breed related activities. Others serve and give back to the Epagneul Breton breed by helping with specific CEB-US and regional EB Club activities and by assisting with projects undertaken or sponsored by the Epagneul Breton Foundation Inc. These opportunities for continued service are intended to provide an incentive for each Scholarship recipient to “give back” and to tangibly contribute to support and promote their chosen breed.  Including this year’s record number of five scholarship recipients, CEB-US has now awarded sixteen (16) total scholarships to deserving youth since inception of the Joyce Smith Memorial Scholarship Fund.  According to the Scholarship Committee Chairman and original benefactor, W. Edward Smith of Galveston, Indiana, each student who has received the Joyce Smith Memorial Scholarship to date, is either actively enrolled and making progress towards a college degree, -- or has completed a program of study and earned a college degree. Several recipients have gone on to complete graduate and professional degrees in their chosen field of study, and all of them continue to have the Epagneul Breton as a part of their lives.   Ed Smith further indicates that, “The enthusiasm for the scholarship has greatly exceeded original expectations. Joyce would be thrilled and I am absolutely thrilled that each one of these young people whom have received the Joyce Smith Memorial Scholarship awarded through CEB-US have become a part of Joycie’s continuing  legacy to the Epagneul Breton breed!”